


If you swear you'd never leave

by londer



Category: A Crown of Candy - Fandom, Dimension 20
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lesbians, arranged marriage BUT they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londer/pseuds/londer
Summary: Cara curtsies with Mother and Mama to the royals and is nearly tackled off her feet by the Rocks siblings into a tight hug and a chorus ofhappy saints' day!s. She knows there's a feast in her honor tonight, and the Rocks siblings clearly think it's some kind of a secret from her and spend all day giving each other covert looks as they shepherd her around the castle. It's sweet of them, so she pretends to be surprised anyways when they bring her into the great hall that night for dinner and the whole room is bedecked in flowers and streamers. There's a giant cake and the Primogen says a blessing and afterwards there are fireworks over the castle walls.
Relationships: Caramelinda Rocks/Lazuli Rocks
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	If you swear you'd never leave

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Hayley Kiyoko's L.O.V.E. M.E.
> 
> the timeline for acoc is a n i g h t m a r e i tell u
> 
> this is kind of messy but it needed to leave my wips folder

_ thirteen _

Cara is thirteen the first time she's allowed to accompany Mother to Castle Candy on her yearly trip to visit court. Mama fusses something terribly about it and Cara is stuck in a long series of dress fittings. Her tutor gives her new patterns to embroider on handkerchiefs as welcome gifts for the princesses. 

Mother kisses Mama good-bye before they leave Castle Stiff Peaks. It's a long week's journey to the capitol and Cara spends the entire journey staring slack-jawed out the window of their carriage. 

She and Mother curtsey to the royal family just like they practiced and then the Queen pulls Mother into a tight hug. They go off arm in arm to talk with the other court ladies and Cara is left with the Rocks siblings. They stare at her and she stares right back. She knows their names of course, from the portraits Mama and her tutors had drilled her on. 

"Well," Crown Princess Rococoa says. "Lady Caramelinda. Let's give you the grand tour." 

They stay at Castle Candy for a month. In that month Cara learns that Rococoa is training to be a general in the army and that she has (although she won't admit it) a crush on one of the stable-hands. Citrina is quiet and pious and nice to sit with while sewing because she doesn't jostle around too much and can make the kind of light conversation that doesn't require much focus while Cara embroiders. Sapphria is full of mischief but is the best at sweet-talking the adults out of any punishments. Amethar's first priority is stealing as many sweet treats as possible from the kitchens, and his second priority is stabbing hay bales in the training yard.

And then there's Lazuli.  _ Brilliant _ and just a little too loud about it, she rushes in and out of rooms with armfuls of books, always yammering on about something new. Cara's terrified by her mind and fascinated by their conversations. She'll miss her the most, she thinks, their hours spent on the battlements looking at the stars together.

_ eighteen _

She curtsies with Mother and Mama to the royals and is nearly tackled off her feet by the Rocks siblings into a tight hug and a chorus of  _ happy saints' day! _ s. She knows there's a feast in her honor tonight, and the Rocks siblings clearly think it's some kind of a secret from her and spend all day giving each other covert looks as they shepherd her around the castle. It's sweet of them, so she pretends to be surprised anyways when they bring her into the great hall that night for dinner and the whole room is bedecked in flowers and streamers. There's a giant cake and the Primogen says a blessing and afterwards there are fireworks over the castle walls. 

There are gifts waiting in her quarters - far more than she expected. She's surprised and confused until Mother walks in and starts a list of who each gift is from. "You're of age now, Cara dearling," Mother says as she inspects a jeweled comb. "House Meringue is a sought-after ally and your marriage will influence the fates of us all." 

"Oh," Cara says. She hadn't ever thought about that, puts down the books she was holding (a gift from Citrina, two tomes on Bulbian iconoclasty). "I hadn't. Well. "

Mother crosses over to her and pulls her into a warm hug. She smells like vanilla and citrus and  _ home _ . "Oh, Cara, my love. You needn't worry yourself just yet. There's no rush for us to make any decisions. All this," she waves to the stacks of presents. "Are just nobles looking to lay some groundwork, so in a few year's time we might remember their generosity and look favorably on their offers. You needn't worry yourself dear - I've talked with the Queen, and there's an interest in matching you to one of the girls!" 

Mother says it like it's good exciting news so Cara smiles. Her mind whirls at the news. "Did she say who?" 

Mother clucks her tongue. "Not Rococoa, she's too high up in succession and will need to wed abroad. Lazuli would be a big ask, as second in line, so likely not her either. Most likely Citrina, so you've at least a few years before she's of age and negotiations can begin." 

Cara's stomach flips when her mother suggests Lazuli, and flops when she says Citrina. She turns back to the dress she was unboxing, runs her fingers over the fine blue silk. Citrina is sweet, but she's simply a dear friend. Hardly what she would hope for in a marriage, but House Meringue is a powerful duchy and her marriage is sure to be politics first. 

  
  


_ twenty-two _

Lazuli kisses her in one of the narrow hallways outside the guest quarters, pulls her in close like they do it all the time. Cara is so startled she freezes. It's a pretty good kiss as far as she knows. They look at each other confused afterwards, Lazuli still holding her close by the waist. Cara brushes her fingertips over her mouth. Her first proper kiss, just like that, with a beautiful princess.

"My love," Lazuli says, then pauses, dark eyes searching over Cara's face. She suddenly lets go and steps back. "Oh. That wasn't...Lady Caramelinda, my sincerest apologies. My visions, in them, we, well. The Bulb...works in mysterious ways? I hope I've done you no harm." 

"Your visions?" Cara asks, still flustered. 

Lazuli nods. "Yes. Sometimes I see, well, other timelines. Possible futures. Things like that. Sometimes it's... _ difficult _ to keep track of what is real and what is a vision. Which is why I-"

"-kissed me," Cara finishes. There's something warm and sweet in her chest, almost like hope. "What were we? In that vision?" 

Lazuli regards her carefully. "Happy. Betrothed." 

"Ah." Her Mother's words ring in her mind from the last time they were at court. She knows that negotiations are beginning around her and Citrina. Moving up one sister in the line of succession is a big ask. "Do you think it's - your vision - is a sign? From the Bulb? That we are..." 

Lazuli shrugs, but she looks even more embarrassed than she did before. "It's hard to say. It might come to pass, it might not. All it means is that it  _ could  _ happen." 

"Would you want it to?" Cara asks before she can stop herself. "To happen?" 

Lazuli meets her eyes and Cara wants to look away now and also to never look at anything else again. "Yes. I would." 

Cara's back has got to be drenched in sweat from nerves. She steels her voice past the wavering heartbeat in her throat. "Well. You should probably kiss me again, then." And Lazuli does, pulls her in by the waist and twines one pair of their hands together to hold while she kisses Cara breathless. 

A few hours later Cara bursts into Mother's quarters with an extremely polite request that she perhaps reconsider which of the Rocks girls Cara is to be wed to. House Meringue is an awfully powerful and good ally to the royal family, after all and Citrina is only  _ third _ in line to the throne. It's almost insulting to consider. 

_ Twenty-five _

The legal issues of the betrothal are finally negotiated and Cara is so grateful and relieved that she doesn't even realize what their formal engagement will entail. She's moved into her new quarters at Castle Candy and assigned a complement of ladies-in-waiting, girls from lesser houses who fuss and flutter around her. 

Cara and Lazuli are never left alone, are always in the constant company of Cara's little shadows. There are no stolen kisses, there are barely any brushes of hands. There's to be an entire  _ year _ of this before the wedding and Cara fears she'll go mad with wanting even a simple hug from her beloved. 

Lazuli sends her courting gifts and they sit together at meals and take tours through the gardens and sit and study together, all under the watchful eye of at least two chaperones. Two of Cara's ladies sleep on small cots in her bedchamber so she can't even sneak out. She feels like an awfully well kept prisoner, and tells her Mama as much in a letter. Mama is unimpressed with her complaints and reminds her that she went through the same when she was betrothed to Mother.

Cara lies in her bed one night, despairing just a little, when Lazuli's face pops into existence in front of her. She winks at Cara and presses a finger to her lips, but Cara's honestly too startled to scream. Warm arms grab her and there's a cold suction all over and she's all of a sudden not in her warm milk-silk sheets but in Lazuli's study. 

"Cara," Lazuli says softly and Cara realizes that she's sitting in her lap in just her nightie and. Well. It's a little (very) improper, but she's not about to look a gift meep in the mouth. She just turns and kisses Lazuli for the first time in weeks. There will be time for questions of  _ how _ and  _ what the fuck just happened _ later.

_ twenty-seven _

Their wedding day is warm and sunny and Lazuli looks beautiful in her dress. They both cry during their vows as the Pontifex, an aged woman from the Dairy Islands, personally blesses their union. The party is loud and raucous and spills out the gates of Castle Candy onto the fields before the castle.

If anyone notices when the brides slip away together far before the festivities are done, nobody says anything.

**Author's Note:**

> i did write more but it was Too Sad so yknow what!!! it cuts off here!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr [here](https://elsie-writes.tumblr.com)


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